Mike Blake

Travis Pelkie

I think I read about this. An early issue of Comics Interview from around ’82 or something had an interview with Mr Rogers and I think he mentioned bringing Bixby and Ferrigno on the show so that kids could see it was just fantasy.

Anyway, I was a real little kid when the Hulk show was on, and my mom tells me I got REALLY tense during it at times, but relaxed once she told me that Hulk only hurts bad guys.

So yeah, it’s totally ingrained for me to like superheroes.

Edo Bosnar

Wow, just wow. Thanks so much for sharing that link. It brought back so many fond memories of watching Mr. Rogers as a really little kid and then watching the Hulk as a slightly bigger kid. Also made me a bit sad, in that both Rogers and Bixby, two genuinely nice men, are no longer with us.
That photograph is too sweet, by the way. If that had been made into a poster it would have been on the wall of my college dorm room, right next to my Batman & Robin TV show poster…

Adam

I totally remember watching this episode of Mr. Rogers when I was a little kid. I was a newly-minted fan of the Hulk, sometimes watching the show with my parents, or otherwise catching the cartoon that appeared after Spider-Man and his amazing friends. I specifically remember two things: the whole deal with the Hulk on the airplane, and Mr. Rogers getting to see how they put prosthetics and makeup on Lou Ferrigno.

I showed this to my wife last night. She’s astonished that we’ve gone from Lou Ferrigno in a wig and body paint to the CGI-Monster seen in The Avengers film (and she much prefers the latter).

Mike Loughlin

I remember that episode! In fact, earlier in the episode, Mr. Rogers talked about dinosaurs. At that age, my two favorite things were the Hulk and dinosaurs. (As opposed to now?) Like Adam, I can still picture the pre-green Lou Ferrigno. Thanks for bringing back the memories!